If anyone wants to get the info on what actually went on in the sixties, read Jonathan Leaf's "The Politically Incorrect Guide To The Sixties." There were actually very few real hippies. Only a very tiny percentage of the population were actually living, breathing hippies who lived on communes or who stay stoned all day.

But hippies got a lot of publicity because they were so far from normal. A lot of teens and young adults smoked a little dope, but they used it like liquor. They didn't live the hippie life though, and most went on to a typical sedate life like their parents.

I reckon hippie means different things to different people. After the war my dad (Pearl Harbor vet) left the midwest for Oregon and bought a cabin and land up the McKenzie river. Off the grid, his dream was to be self sustaining, living off the land while earning money as a craftsman and inventor. He believed everybody could live comfortably with low impact and he aimed to prove it. Sadly, his dream came to an end in an accident on his motorcycle, otherwise who knows what might have come of it.